YouTube has renewed its live-streaming deal with Major League Baseball (MLB), to continue providing fans with free access to 15 games during the 2022 season.

The broadcast deal adds to the MLB’s plethora of pre-existing broadcasters, however, the 15 games involved in the deal will be streamed exclusively to YouTube.

Currently, the MLB has streaming deals with several major streaming players, including; Apple TV (streaming rights to Friday night matches), Peacock (streams the Sunday broadcasts), Amazon (streams 21 of the Yankees’ games on Prime Video) and Disney who streams select games to ESPN Plus subscribers.

YouTube’s head of sports partnerships, Jon Cruz, said it has been incredible to watch the MLB harness YouTube to grow its reach over the past four years.

“One of the biggest commonalities within our partnership is maintaining a ‘fan-first’ perspective, so we’re proud to continue to keep our games free and accessible to fans in over 182 countries around the world while delivering the best of baseball in ways only YouTube can do,” Cruz said.

A YouTube representative confirmed that the MLB game’s broadcasting quality will be increased from 720p at 30 frames per second to 1080p at 60 frames per second on the video platform.

The MLB’s senior VP for global media and business development, Dominick Balsamo, said he is excited for the opportunity to build on the fan experience through the series they have dubbed the ‘MLB Games of the Week Live on YouTube.’

“YouTube’s creative approach to fan engagement lets viewers feel like they are a part of the broadcast, and we look forward to another season of bringing fans closer to the game through their unique presentation,” Balsamo said.

Like previous seasons, YouTube’s broadcasts will include the ability to chat with MLB superfan YouTube creators with paid subscribers being able to re-watch tries and see real-time statistics as the matches are played.

The first YouTube broadcasted game will showcase the Washington Nationals at Colorado Rockies on Thursday, May 5^th.